"We knew we had problems when the returns from Los Angeles County started coming in." That's what Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin told me several days ago when we chatted by phone about her race for the state controller's office. Turns out LA County voter returns are still catching the eyes of political gurus throughout the state. To refresh, Swearengin, a Republican, lost to Betty Yee, a Democrat, in the Nov. 4 general election by a 54%-46% margin. Yee had 3,810,304 votes. Swearengin had 3,249,668 votes. That's a difference of 560,636 votes. Those numbers from the state's official Statement of Vote....

Demography isn't destiny—and assuming that it is will likely make liberals overreach again. Many are arguing these days that President Obama has forged a new majority coalition of women, minorities, young people and upscale cultural liberals so large and durable that he can do what no president has done before—pursue a very liberal agenda without serious opposition or defections from his own party. Demography is destiny, this argument holds, and it is irrevocably on the side of Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party. Yes, there will be fewer whites and more minorities in the future, and Republicans will have to...

Demography isn't destiny—and assuming that it is will likely make liberals overreach again. Many are arguing these days that President Obama has forged a new majority coalition of women, minorities, young people and upscale cultural liberals so large and durable that he can do what no president has done before—pursue a very liberal agenda without serious opposition or defections from his own party. Demography is destiny, this argument holds, and it is irrevocably on the side of Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party. Yes, there will be fewer whites and more minorities in the future, and Republicans will have to...

In a shortage economy, rationing forces some hard choices. Democrats running for Congress in both chambers have discovered this as donors have begun closing their pocketbooks or tapping out, and the desperation for dollars has them competing not against Republicans but each other. Politico reports that a dwindling pool of patrons are being pitched by Senate campaigns to skip sending any money to House candidates as Republicans will take control in the next Congress anyway: House and Senate Democrats are increasingly competing against one another over a small universe of deep-pocketed donors who could make a financial difference in the...

Specter wants Wilson censured Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.), who's looked at POTUS from both sides now, was just on the Bill Press radio show suggesting the South Carolina firebrand Joe Wilson be censured for his heckle heard round the world. Said the Republican-turned-Dem: "He apologized immediately afterward but I don't think that’s adequate... If an apology is the consequence of an outburst I think we can expect more – that’s not a sufficient penalty that’s not a sufficient price to pay.. I'm not saying the guy should be kicked out of the House… But there ought to be some rebuke,...

NEW YORK - As consumers began hitting the road Friday for the Memorial Day weekend, they faced the sobering reality that it now costs $87 to fill a Ford Explorer SUV, up $14 from last year, and $72 to fill a mid-sized Honda Accord, up $12. That's because gas prices, which took another jump higher overnight, are up nearly 20 percent, or 65 cents a gallon, over the past year to average nearly $3.88 a gallon nationally. But unlike this time last year, when gas prices were at their peak for 2007, pump prices now show no signs of halting...

Eager to shed its do-nothing label, a shaken-up Congress will return Thursday to a full plate, starting with the swearing-in of the nation's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.Democrat Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and her party have big plans as they take on a weakened, wartime Republican president and assume control of both chambers after a dozen years in the minority. Those plans include higher pay for hourly workers, cheaper prescription drugs for seniors, a hastened pullout from Iraq and a more liberal immigration policy."Democrats are prepared to govern and ready to lead," the speaker-designate said before...